Last year I had the opportunity to visit Pastor Jais Tinglund, an LCMS pastor, originally from Denmark and now serving in the U.S. We discovered a common love of Lutheran hymnody, and he lamented that some of his favorite hymns from the Danish hymn tradition aren’t available in English. I said I would gladly versify a text if he could provide me with a literal English translation. The first hymn he mentioned was Sorrig og Elendighed (which I’ve rendered “Sorrow, Grief, and Misery”) by Thomas Kingo (1634-1703), who was a Lutheran bishop and hymnwriter in Denmark. The original hymn is 27 stanzas long. The hymnal from which Pastor Tinglund sang had the first half of stanza 1 combined with the second half of stanza 11, followed by stanzas 12, 15, 17, 21, 22, and 27. He provided me with a literal translation of all 27 stanzas, to which I added the help of an old Danish-English dictionary to get a feel for the semantic range of the original words. I translated the stanzas he requested, along with a few others that struck me.
A couple notes on the translation, both having to do with the fact that Danish is a Germanic language. First, I have generally avoided Latin-based words for the trochaic rhymes at the ends of lines 2/3 and 5/7 of the stanzas. Many English translations of hymns rely on Latin word endings like -ation, -ated, -ection, -ended, and -ition for trochaic rhymes, but such Latinate endings would have clouded the simplicity of Kingo’s language and made the hymn feel foreign and convoluted. English, unfortunately, doesn’t have a large stock of its own word endings that lend themselves to trochaic rhyme. There’s the usual -ing and -éd, plus the archaic and lovely -est of 2nd singular verbs and -eth of the 3rd singular. I ended up settling for some slant rhymes, which is common enough even among the greatest of the German-Lutheran hymnwriters. Since vowels are extended in singing and consonants happen quickly, I leaned toward matching the vowel sounds between the two words and using similar middle consonants, for example “rages” and “blazes,” or “risen” and “driven.” While certain trochaic rhymes might look like a stretch, when sung they are all agreeable.
Second, Danish can do what German and Old English do in combining words. I retained some of these in the translation, such as Lyste-knæged “lust-bent” or Hierte-grav “heart-grave.” Such word-joining may sound strange at first, but it’s a potent manner of expression, capturing large and deep things in only a few syllables. It’s native to English; kennings were typical in Old English poetry, e.g. hron-rād, “whale-road” (the sea). Word-joining also happens in the Psalms, e.g. צַלְמָ֫וֶת (tsalmaweth) in Ps. 23:4, a combination of צֵל (tsel) “shadow” and מָוֶת (maweth) “death.” This is a longstanding poetic device, also has precedent among the greatest of the Lutheran hymnwriters, and deserves a comeback. The tune is Sebastian, from J. A. Freylinghausen’s Gesangbuch of 1714. The setting is largely a realization of the figured bass attributed to J. S. Bach (BWV 472) and found in Schemelli’s Gesangbuch, though somewhat simplified for congregational singing. The original numbers of the included stanzas are 1/11, 2, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, and 27.
Insert
Hymn Text
Sorrow, grief, and misery,
Sighs and salty teardrops flowing
Give me pain that’s ever growing,
For my God holds wrath toward me.
Heaven has its help forsaken;
Earth has naught to help my fate.
From me I’ve made angels hasten.
Ah, how wretched is my state!
Sin’s broad mountains on me lie
And my lust-bent shoulders crumble,
While my soul begins to rumble
In its flesh’s dirty sty.
God’s Law threatens me and rages,
And condemns me at my core.
Satan shows me hell’s hot blazes
That his cave-mouth holds in store.
Others may be free from care,
And rejoice in God with smiling,
Laugh when sorrow’s darts are flying:
I shrink back and do not dare;
For if any gladness urges
Me to smile, I feel the strain,
For my conscience hands me scourges
Made of sin’s most grievous pain.
Is there any to advise?
Is there any comfort waiting?
Is there any hope remaining?
Is there any point in sighs?
Is the well of mercy empty?
Into death have I been sold?
Is a lock on heaven’s entry?
Is the heart of God grown cold?
No, oh no! My soul, take heart!
Rise and see! Though thou dost totter,
Though the loads of sin press harder,
On the path of faith thou art!
God will still be won by praying.
Jesus lives and ever will.
Still the Spirit is sustaining
Thy sore mind that sorrows fill.
I by faith, O Jesus, see
How Thou once Thyself wert lying
’Neath my loads of sin and crying
For Thy God to comfort Thee.
Thou for all my bloody sinning
And my crimes hast sweated blood;
Hence my comfort is beginning;
Here I find joy’s perfect flood.
Crown of thorns has piercéd Thee,
That the thorns of my transgression
Should be rotted by Thy Passion,
Ere they set their root in me.
Thou the cross didst gladly suffer
And didst tear my note of debt,
Else Death’s sentence I were under,
On the path to hell were set.
Thou hast borne a death most fell,
Such death as can’t be imagined,
In which every death is fastened
In the boundless woe of hell,
Which upon Thy pure heart batters,
Till it ruptures finally;
But the moment it was shattered
Thou didst draw me unto Thee.
In Thy closed and fast-sealed grave
Thou didst lay Thyself to slumber,
Break the darts of Death asunder,
And remove each sting he gave.
Thou from night’s dark tents hast risen,
Sun and Joy from east to west;
Thou my sorrow’s stone hast driven
From my heart-grave and my breast.
Into hell Thou didst descend,
Hell, which had me sorely shaken.
Thou hast bound and shackled Satan.
Now his reign is at an end.
Death and bonds of hell defeated,
Thou didst go to heaven’s height.
In my flesh Thou hast been seated
Joyful at Thy Father’s right.
Let the Law make thunderclaps;
Let the devil lift hell’s cover,
Open up its throat of sulfur;
Let the whole wide world collapse;
Let the demons try to fright me;
Let the ancient serpent’s sting
Chase me; yet I will hold tightly
To my faithful Savior King.
O my Soul, be joyful, then,
Jesus is thy cheer and comfort,
Jesus has thee robed and covered,
Jesus grants thy faith’s “Amen.”
Jesus is thy gain in living
And thy joy eternally.
Jesus, Jesus, mercy give me,
That I die thus trusting Thee.
